"Although Leanne McNuff was taken immediately to hospital, she was seriously injured and died later that night," he added.

L/Cpl Lowe, who was on leave from his army barracks in Catterick, North Yorkshire, had kicked in the door of the house they once shared and attacked his former partner with a knife in an incident that lasted just a minute and a half, the jury were told.

Miss McNuff's brother, Ryan, and mother Margaret lived next door and found their loved one lying in a pool of blood on the landing of the house with multiple stab wounds, after hearing her screams.